Background
He was born at Mouilleron-en-Pareds (Vendee), in the same village of World War I leader Georges Clemenceau, to an aristocratic family.
He was born at Mouilleron-en-Pareds (Vendee), in the same village of World War I leader Georges Clemenceau, to an aristocratic family.
From 1898 to 1904, he prepared for the French Naval School and Saint-Cyr, where he won a place in 1908. He was a cadet at Saint-Cyr from 1909 to 1911 (his year was the "Mauritanie" promotion) and graduated 5th in his class. Then, he entered the cavalry school at Saumur.
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny participated in WW1 (during which he was wounded twice) and the Rif War in the 1920s. In 1932, he served on the staff of Maxime Weygand. In 1935, he was made the commandant of the Army War College. Between 1939 and 1940, as France entered into the European War during WW2, he was the commanding officer of French 14th Infantry Division. Remaining in the French Army after the French defeat, he was transferred to Tunisia in 1941 and took command of French 16th Division in 1942. Later in 1942, he was arrested for his involvement in anti-German resistance forces and was sentenced to a ten-year imprisonment term.
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny escaped imprisonment, crossed into Allied territory in Algeria, and was given command of French Army B within the US 6th Army Group. His troops participated in the invasion of Corsica and Southern France. Although he was criticized for his lack of aggressiveness which allowed the Germans to strengthen the defensive position later to be known as the Colmar Pocket, he remained a popular leader especially as his troops crossed the Rhine River into Germany and captured Karlsruhe, Ulm, and Stuttgart. He represented France at the German surrender ceremony in Berlin, Germany on 8 May 1945.
After the war, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny served as the chief of staff of infantry troops of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), served in diplomatic functions in South America, and saw action in the First Indochina War.
In 1951, he returned to Paris, France due to declining health. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny passed away in the following year. He was given a state funeral, during which international dignitaries such as Bernard Montgomery and Dwight Eisenhower served as pallbearers. He was posthumously given the title of Maréchal de France (Marshal of France). He was buried next to his son, Bernard de Lattre de Tassigny, who was killed in French Indochina during the First Indochina War.